Sunday April 10, 2011, 7:24 pm
Charlie Reese’s last column – 555 People
by CARLTOWN on FEBRUARY 25, 2011
Charley Reese’s Final Column

"Charley Reese is retiring. Below here is a copy of his last column. I know many will miss this southern gentleman. He had a great run and we are all better off for it.

Farewell, Mr. Reese, and thank you. Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years. Be sure to read the list of Taxes at the end.
This column is about as clear and easy to understand as it can be – read it!! The article is completely neutral, not anti-republican or democrat.

Charlie Reese has hit the nail directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that in the final analysis must assume responsibility for the judgments
made that impact each one of us every day. It’s a short but good read. Worth the time. Worth remembering!

555 PEOPLE–By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who
create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats
and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY
do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are
against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have
inflation and high taxes?
You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The
President does.
You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority
to vote on appropriations. The House of
Representatives does.
You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don’t control monetary policy, the
Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one
President, and nine Supreme Court justices
equates to 555 human beings out of the 300
million are directly, legally, morally, and
individually responsible for the domestic
problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve
Board because that problem was created by the
Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its
Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency
to a federally chartered, but PRIVATE, central
bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists
for a sound reason. They have no legal authority.
They have no ability to coerce a senator, a
congressman, or a President to do one cotton-
picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician
$1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the
power to accept or reject it. No matter what the
lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility
to determine how he votes.
Those 555 human beings spend much of their energy
convincing you that what they did is not their fault.
They cooperate in this common con regardless of
party.
What separates a politician from a normal human
being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal
human being would have the gall of a Speaker,
who stood up and criticized the President for
creating deficits….. The President can only
propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress
to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the
land, gives sole responsibility to the House of
Representatives for originating and approving
appropriations and taxes. House members,
not the President, can approve any budget they
want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it
over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300
million cannot replace 555 people who stand
convicted — by present facts — of incompetence
and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single
domestic problem that is not traceable directly to
those 555 people. When you fully grasp the plain
truth that 555 people exercise the power of the
federal government, then it must follow that
what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it
unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want
it in the red ..
If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan
it’s because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan …
If they do not receive social security but are on
an elite retirement plan not available to the people,
it’s because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 555 people shift the blame to
bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they
can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice
they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give
the power to regulate and from whom they can
take this power. Above all, do not let them con
you into the belief that there exists disembodied
mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation,” or
“politics” that prevent them from doing what
they take an oath to do.
Those 555 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power..
They, and they alone, should be held accountable
by the people who are their bosses.
Provided the voters have the gumption to manage
their own employees…
We should vote all of them out of office and
clean up their mess!
Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the
Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
What you do with this article now that you have
read it……… Is up to you.
This might be funny if it weren’t so true.
Be sure to read all the way to the end:
Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table,
At which he’s fed.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.
Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for peanuts anyway!
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.
Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.
Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.
Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.
Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won’t be done
Till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He’s good and sore.
Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he’s laid…
Put these words
Upon his tomb,
Taxes drove me
to my doom…’
When he’s gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax..
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Sales Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY? Not one of these
taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation was
the most prosperous in the world. We had
absolutely no national debt, had the largest
middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home
to raise the kids.
What in the h_ _ _ happened?
Can you spell ‘politicians?’
I hope this goes around THE USA at least
555 times!!! YOU can help it get there!!!
GO AHEAD – - – BE AN AMERICAN!!!

Time to change things. Time to send ‘em home. Right? You many pass this on…"

Sunday April 10, 2011, 7:57 pm
Great post, Carrie. Someone sent this to me not long ago, and I enjoyed it more the second time around. I hope he had a long beatiful life. Certainly, purposeful and meaningful. On a more tragic note, we don't vote them out, but seem to be voting more nightmares in. O god. I'll stop there.

Sunday April 10, 2011, 8:11 pm
"...I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a
congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the
power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes..." Exactly. So screwing us is what they want!

Sunday April 10, 2011, 10:13 pm
There's nothing wrong with taxes and nothing wrong with government per se.
100 years ago there were not as many people as there are now. There were no Megalopolises. What worked for small towns and villages will not work now.
We need to have reasonable governments that will maintain law and order and at the same time allow for creativity and enterprise.
Market forces have always been unable to provide adequate infrastructure or been able to forestall boom and crash events like what happened with the American Banks. Government should have been on to it well before it happened, but instead of that Bush and his Republicans deregulated the banks so as to facilitate the disaster.
Yes we need government, but the government should be answerable to the people and not to the Koch brothers.

Monday April 11, 2011, 9:28 pm
Noted, and thanks for the article, Carrie. Bravo, Alexandra... same to Yvonne and Constance. Why, oh why, is the world blessed with so few the caliber of Charlie Reese... people with an over-abundance of common sense AND the ability to put it into words anyone can understand? How refreshing! I hope he lived a wonderful life and now has found peace, wherever he may be..

Tuesday April 12, 2011, 11:53 am
I would note that the original of this article was written over 25 years ago and has been "updated" several times since. So what are we to do? This article says, "We should vote all of them out of office and
clean up their mess!" Well, they get voted out all the time and nothing changes. How are we supposed to "clean up their mess"?

Tuesday April 12, 2011, 2:16 pm
The current tax rates are DRASTICALLY EXCESSIVE and much of it is questionable validity by Constitutional means. We should trim back government - maybe by a whole century - and shed peacetime total tax rates over 12%. The current government certainly doesn't represent me, I voted 3rd party for the last few election cycles in disgust at Big Government Dummycrats and Big Religion Repulsivans.

Tuesday April 12, 2011, 3:20 pm
I agree Carrie, voting for so called 3rd p[arty candidates is nothing more than a protest and wasted vote. If one does not wish one's vote to mean something, why vote at all. It is just like the individual who didn't like any of the candidates on the ballot, so he wrote in his own name for each office.

Tuesday April 12, 2011, 4:11 pm
We need to do something soon, before this country is taken over by TAXES! Oh wait, too late, remember we are in charge of who is voted in and we also have a major impact on what they vote on and how they vote. Give our gov't a good house cleaning

Wednesday April 13, 2011, 5:45 am
You could make a start with:
Wall Street and the crash of 1929 when everyone thought, and still think, that they could get money for nothing, just by investing.
The Military Machine.
Off Shore Accounts.

Saturday July 30, 2011, 8:26 am
Charley Reese was a fascist moron. Highly unintelligent, absolutely divorced of a concept of real HISTORY, but very astute in the one thing that really matters, in the end, towards having a herd of people pay attention to his blather: he knew how to push people's buttons.

Like every fascist worth his salt, he hearkens back to an "ideal past" - Mussolini had the Roman empire, Hitler had the Nibelungen crew - sad old Reese and all the other 2-bit tea partiers have, for the sake of America, just the milquetoast, dubious, and highly recent 50's. It's a sad fascist who can't even concoct some mad, far-off, larger-than-life patrimony - just goes to show